Eatanddrink Ratings

Customer Comments

Yesterday (7th February 2012) was our first visit to this world famous restaurant and we were very much looking forward to it. Firstly, the service was first class, friendly welcome at reception, efficient and professional waiting staff - exactly what you would expect from a top restaurant. The first course, fish soup was superb, hot and bursting with flavour, delicious. Off to a good start, I thought. Our main course 'seafood thermidor' was a big disappointment. The selection of fish was varied and generous but the sauce, such as it was, practically non-existent, was completely tasteless. The gratin dish was covered with what seemed to be an excessive amount of fried breadcrumbs - again no flavour.
I happen to have at home 'Rick Stein's English Seafood Cookery' in which he includes 'Seafood Thermidor' and says of it, I quote "It had lots of different seafood in it, it was robustly flavoured.
It would not be exaggerating to say that the success of our restaurant in the first ten years was due to this dish".
Perhaps your original recipe needs revisiting?

Ros
08 February 2012

We rounded a weekend wedding weekend down at Fowey in Cornwall with a visit to Padstow on a very wet and miserable Sunday in July.

I knew that Rick Stein owned a restaurant and various other shops, fish and chips etc in Padstow and as a fan of his programmes and books, was looking forward to 'a little experience' of the great chef's recipes. First off I was actually shocked to see how obtrusive and over bearing the 'Stein brand' is in such a tiny place. His shops, B&Bs, etc seem to be around every corner. The queue for the fish and chips was around the block so we opted for a whistle stop around the deli and a taste of his pasties, (as we were not staying long) of which much has been written about.
What a terrible disappointment! My other half had the large steak pasty and I opted for the smaller variety; tasteless chunks of season-less meat surrounded by dry (and burnt) pastry. Not a vegetable in sight...not that I could find anyway. Our little baker in the nearby village makes pasties which are absolutely delicious and more than half the price of these marketing monstrosities. The seagulls would have been in for a dubious treat if it had not been such a built up area!

My summary; poor old Padstow... and as for Mr Stein's vastly over priced products (a small package of sea salt costed up as if it was grains of pure gold!); tasteless pasties et al, all I can say is that we were hugely disappointed, and will most certainly not be going back to sample anything else from Mr Stein's larder....despite all PR protestations for fresh, good local food reasonably priced. Something has slipped up somewhere between the original concept and the reality!

Ellie
27 July 2009

We visited Rick Stein's Seafood restaurant in May 2008, having booked six months in advance. Having been to many excellent restaurants in England and abroad, we were really looking forward to a treat. We were absolutely gutted at the standard of the food at Rick Stein's. My shellfish soup tasted like spicy tomatoe broth. Having paid £64 for two turbot we were horrified to get two marble sized potatoes each, a couple of beans and slices of courgette. Very uninspiring! The desserts were lovely, but you don't go to an acclaimed seafood restaurant for panna cotta! £145 later and we came away feeling disappointed and wishing we had gone back to Viners in Summercourt, which was vastly superior. We would not go back there even if we were not paying!

Valerie
07 June 2008

I have just come back from Padstow 22 March 2008 and stayed at Rick Steins Hotel St Petroc. Me and my wife were given this for Christmas to stay there and to eat in the sea food restaurant. So we were really looking forward to it.
We arrived at the Hotel the room was very small the tiles were coming up in the bathroom.
We then went that evening to the Sea Food Restaurant. What can I say I had the Papardelle with Ricotta, Spinach and Basil the pasta was uncooked cold the dish looked like gone off milk on my plate, and it took me about 30 mins to get somebody’s attention, I told him that I could have got a £1.99 ready meal from Tescos that would have been better they asked me if I would like something else but by this time I was passed it at a cost of £10.50.
For my main course I had a Char-grilled whole dover sole I thought they could not get that wrong. The fish came warm but cooked had no taste water, I said to them was this fresh fish or was it frozen, as it was like my frozen fish at home that I cook. The vegetables of 2 Baby carrots and 1 small bit of broccoli and 2 very small baby potatoes were covered in olive oil no taste and cold at a cost of £31.50.
My Wife’s meal was not really to the standard that you would expect from a 1st class Restaurant.
Our whole meal for 2 came to £116 that did include the cheapies bottle of house wine.
I would never go there again and now we have to be crossed examined from our friend who gave us this Christmas Present.

Eddie
24 March 2008

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